FM to end all shared athletic programming

FORT MADISON – The Fort Madison Community School District board of directors has decided to allow all shared athletic agreements with other schools to expire at the end of the athletic seasons for the 2022-23 school year.

According to a statement issued from the district Tuesday morning, attributed to the entire board of directors, the board cited the recent Education Spending Account legislation as part of the decision to end the shared agreements.

The statement in its entirety reads as follows:

“Each year, the FMCSD Board of Directors takes action on the district’s high school athletic program sharing agreements. At this time, the board has decided to allow all current sharing agreements to expire at the end of the athletic seasons for the 2022-23 school year. In January, Governor Reynolds signed a bill making state education funding that had been designated for public schools available for students attending private schools. That dramatic shift, engineered by state lawmakers, has caused many schools in Iowa to reconsider their sharing agreements as private schools now have more resources to fund their own athletic programs.
The board does not plan to place renewing the sharing agreements on a future board agenda. Instead, the board will place its focus on our district's human and financial resources.
As a board, we understand that this marks a shift from current practice. In following the district’s mission of ensuring all students learn the academic and life skills necessary for personal success and responsible living, we believe the focus must remain on the students who attend our FMCSD schools.”

Several members of the board, including Brad Menke and former Board President Dianne Hope, chose not to comment on the statement saying all comments had to come from current Board President Josh Wykert or Vice President Mio Santiago. Calls to  Santiago went unreturned Tuesday afternoon.

Wykert responded via email saying the process the board used to arrive at the decision was explained in the statement. He said the board will not be taking any action on any shared agreements for the foreseeable future.

"This was not a decision the board takes lightly. However, it was necessary given the decision by state lawmakers to provide public funding for private schools through the new voucher system," Wykert wrote in the email.

Board member Paul Wilkerson said no formal vote on the decision was made.

“We were briefed on it by the superintendent and Athletic Director, but there was no formal vote by the board,” he said.

He said the briefing by Superintendent Dr. Erin Slater and AD Jeff Lamb was “some time ago.”

Both Slater and Lamb declined to comment on the issue and deferred all questions to Wykert.

The district currently offers 18 sports and they share some of those programs including baseball, track, girls' cross country, boys' and girls' tennis, and boys' and girls' wrestling, and boys and girls soccer, with Holy Trinity Catholic. 

Central Lee shares boys' and girls' wrestling and Keokuk and Burlington also have agreements in place.

According to the statement, all of the shared programs will be allowed to expire. However, several of the agreements are proposed and hosted by other schools, including bowling and swimming/diving. It is unclear if those agreements will also be allowed to expire.

Central Lee Superintendent Dr. Andy Crozier and Holy Trinity Catholic Education Director Craig Huebner were both disappointed with the decision.

Central Lee had a state wrestling champion in 2018 when Harlan Steffensmeier won the title. Two Central Lee wrestlers from the 2022-23 season also made it to the state tournament with the Bloodhounds.

“We are disappointed to learn via email on April 11 that the Fort Madison Community School District has opted to drop the sharing agreement with Central Lee for boys’ and girls’ wrestling after 24 years of a successful relationship,” Crozier wrote.

“Over this time, Central Lee’s student-athletes have contributed greatly to the success of Fort Madison’s wrestling program. This includes a state champion in 2018 and two state qualifiers this past season. Additionally, the Fort Madison Wrestling Club has benefited from numerous active Central Lee parents taking part in fundraising efforts because of their child’s participation in wrestling.

Crozier said this move by FMCSD could put other partnerships with the district in question.

“This decision by the Fort Madison CSD will force us to determine whether we should continue with other joint opportunities between our districts. For example, we also partner with Fort Madison on initiatives such as the Lee County Career Center; junior high, junior varsity, and varsity scheduled competitions; and numerous other opportunities that jointly benefit both districts.”

Huebner also said he was disappointed to see a program with documented success wash away.

“I’m disappointed. The sharing of athletics has been, from where I sit, very successful. I went to Aquinas in the 80s and 90s and participated in those shared programs,” Huebner said.

“It’s been done for generations and decades. I’m sad to see it go and take away opportunity for all  students. It seems to me it’s more political than what’s best for students.”

Holy Trinity parents who live in the Fort Madison district pay taxes to the district as well as an $80 per student participation fee to join the shared programs. The HTC board two weeks ago approved a $10,000 annual payment to the district to help offset the costs.

Huebner said that was to help offset costs of coaches.

“We had had a couple conversations with some of their coaches who thought that could go a ways to help. My first couple years (the board) talked about sharing some costs for assistant coaches because our kids do increase their need for coaches. We didn’t do it at that time, but we thought it was good faith thing to show we were willing to put a little forward to help with that,” Huebner said.

Huebner pointed to the ESA law as part of the equation and said there are some misconceptions around that new law.

“Some of that is misconception that they’re not getting anything out of this, but they are getting $1,200 per year for every kid that goes here but lives in their district.”

Those contributions, according to the new Iowa law, are phased in over three years.

“I didn’t make the law,” Huebner said. “(Lawmakers) put it out and I’m taking advantage of it, just like they would.”

HTC has some programs that are self-sufficient due to numbers, but there are others where they can’t field a team. He said that is based on student interest levels.

“Our numbers aren’t super high, but we do have a large interest in the volleyball program and we’ve seen increased interest in others,” he said. “It’s just one of those things if we can easily field enough players to have a solid team. I only have 100 kids in the high school. It’s tough to field a team because they overlap heavily. Our goal moving forward will be to see if we can garner enough interest to field other teams. (AD John Goetz) and I are going to get together and discuss that.”

He said HTC has had conversations with Central Lee around a shared football program, but not other programs, and no decisions have been made.

Crozier said Central Lee will also begin to evaluate other options.

“Central Lee will begin looking into other options for wrestling moving forward. As always, we remain committed to ensuring all students have opportunities to be successful both in and out of the classroom.”